Chester French has really gone out of its way to point out how this isn’t a mixtape. It’s a free album.

With 24 tracks and collabs with legends and soon-to-be hip hop royalty, it really doesn’t matter what you call this damn thing. Just listen to it.

According to D.A. and Max, Jacques Jams, Vol. 1: Endurance chronicles the past six years of their lives. It’s also the first new music the duo have released since 2007. From the Harvard campus to the office of Pharrell Williams.

Sounds like a dream, right? Well. It’s just another day in the life of Chester French.

This free album would have never come to fruition if it wasn’t for the persistence of DJ Clinton Sparks. The Harvard grads agreed to create it because C. Sparks just wouldn’t stop pestering them.

With the release date of Wale’s upcoming mixtape Back to the Feature set (April 29th for those of you who don’t know), the good folks over at Hip Hop Update and DC to BC put together a “best of” compilation mixtape of Wale’s work up to this point.

It features songs from his previous mixtapes, live performances, and some rare freestyles you may not have heard yet. This is all in preparation for the release of his debut studio album Attention Deficit, which has been reported to be scheduled for release at the end of the year.

We set out to call it the “Road” to Attention Deficit (his upcoming Interscope album) because his career has been a journey thus far – so we included live audio from the UK, Australia, California, etc. that captures his journey around the world.

For an example of some unheard Wale your ears may not have had the pleasure of hearing yet listen below.

We all know the Bathing Ape clothing line and the high-priced style that comes along with it. But what is the hell is A Bathing Tape?

Well, it’s the latest mixtape from the 21- year old Uptown DC rapper G5 Clive who has been involved with music since the ripe young age of 8, and recording his own material for the past three years. We had a little Q & A session with the Uptown DC native about his career, DC music, and his newest mixtape (download it HERE) and follow the jump for album cover and tracklist.

What’s the inspiration for the title A Bathing Ape?

The tape is called A Bathing Tape because its “showered” wit a lot of different sounds and topics but its still one big reflection of me. Its also a play of the clothing line which brings the freshness and exclusivity to the tape.

Do you have any specific message your trying to get out through your music?

I’m just painting my life as I see it. Speaking for myself, as well as my peers. I’m also promoting individuality, intelligence and style through my music.

Why do you think the DMV area has been overlooked for so long as place where dope music is made?

I feel the music industry.. better yet, these big companies don’t feel the DMV is marketable to a worldwide audience, which I totally disagree with. I feel once the outside world gets familiar with us and our story we won’t be overlooked anymore.

Speaking of the DMV, how do you feel about about Wale’s rise to fame following The Mixtape About Nothing?
I feel its a great thing. It gave our city worldwide notice for not only our go-go talent, but also our hip-hop talent.

Check out two of G5’s personal favorites below and if you dig it you’ll be glad to hear that we can expect “a load of shit this year, good shit though, haha.”

The song is a DMV banger, and underscores the point that we have been trying to make for the past couple of months that the DMV is a hotbed of hip-hop right now and there are scores of dope artists from the area not named Wale.

Enjoy, let us know what you think, and seriously watch out, because the DMV is about to blow up. Ya dig?

First we hit you with that new new fire from Mike Posner, and to cap off the night we bring you another mixtape presented by the infamous Mick Boogie and the 20-year-old DC native A.B. the Producer.

A.B. is straight D.C., graduating from Ballou High School in 2006, and was introduced into the game years before that. How dope must this have been for 14-year old aspiring producer:

In 2003, through the efforts of a close friend, AB was lucky enough to watch Kanye West laying tracks at Sony Studios in New York City.

Is it us, or does somehow everything end up involving Kanye these days?

Anyway, since that fateful encounter, A.B, has worked with a variety of artists, but brings it home on this mixtape, Producer’s Credits, which features only artists from across the DMV area, including Raheem DaVaughn and Wale. Download HERE.

First, you catch us putting up The Fray up on our site. Now … Nickle Eye of the Strokes?

Have some faith in us, will you?

Nickel Eye (Nikolai Fraiture) meets up with one of THE hottest up-and-comers and the two team up with THE hottest producer in the game. Get ready for a laid back track that features a rather Wyclef Jean-esque Wale (without the accent, of course).